The Gorilla That Could Not Find A Job: The Nigerian Job Crisis In A Nutshell -By Isaac Asabor

“A graduate in Biology was having difficulty in finding a job. He saw an advert in one of the daily newspapers for a job in a zoo.

“In the interview, the manager told him that their gorilla, which had been a tourist’s attraction, has died so they needed someone to dress up and pretend as a gorilla.

“The graduate was embarrassed, but since the salary was okay, he accepted the job. The first day, he put on the gorilla skin and entered the cage, he started jumping up and down, beating his chest and roared like a gorilla.

“The next day, he put on a gorilla skin and started moving around the zoo again and mistakenly entered another cage and found himself staring at a lion🦁. The lion roared and rushed towards him.

“The scared graduate quickly forgot that he is a gorilla and started shouting like a human, “Help! Help!” The lion leaped onto him, knocked him to the ground and whispered to his ear “Dennis”, it’s me Mike, your course mate.”

“My brother, No job in this country, In fact that crocodile🐊 in that water is not a crocodile, it is John, you know he is from a riverine area.”

For the sake of clarification, this writer stumbled on the foregoing joke on a Quora, a social media platform. 

Interestedly, in Nigeria, unemployment is not just a statistics. It is a full-blown crisis that hits everyone in the face like a lion pouncing on an unsuspecting gorilla. No, seriously, we are talking about a graduate in Biology who, after months of futile job hunting, finally landed a gig at a zoo. The job? Dress up as a gorilla. Now, I do not know about you, but there is something deeply symbolic about this.

The story of the hapless graduate is as hilarious as it is tragic. Picture it: a young man who studied Biology, a field that would theoretically open doors to careers in medicine, research, or environmental science, ends up pretending to be a gorilla for a living. Not because he lacked the skills, but because the job market is so barren that even a degree in a scientific field won’t keep you from bouncing between the cages of absurdity. And for what? A paycheck.

But it is not just about the graduate; it is a reflection of the wider economic malaise in Nigeria. With the unemployment rate hovering at a terrifying 37.7%, that is almost four out of every 10 Nigerians without a job, stories like this are not unusual; they are the new normal. In fact, if you walk down the street, you will probably spot dozens of young people, freshly graduated, with degrees in hand, waiting for a gorilla skin to wear just to make ends meet.

And here is where it gets even more ridiculous: the poor guy, dressed as a gorilla, accidentally wanders into the lion’s den. I cannot help but laugh, because, honestly, is that not the perfect metaphor for the Nigerian job market? One minute, you are jumping around, beating your chest, pretending to be something you are not in a desperate attempt to make a living, and the next minute, you are face-to-face with a real danger you did not see coming.

Now, imagine the shock when the “lion” starts whispering to his ear, “Dennis, it’s me, Mike, your course mate!” It is almost poetic, right? The very same person who was supposed to be his competitor for jobs, his own classmate is now the one reminding him of the absurdity of their situation. It is like the job market itself has become a jungle of survival of the fittest, but even the strongest, most qualified among us are just trying to outlast the next person in the cage.

What does this tell us? Well, for one, it reveals the stark reality that Nigeria’s educated youth, especially the graduates among them, have to fight for a place in a market that is not offering them opportunities, but rather absurdities. The graduate might as well have been in a cage of his own making, dressing up as a gorilla, all for a quick salary fix. How many times do we see well-educated Nigerians stuck in jobs they are overqualified for, or in jobs that have absolutely nothing to do with their qualifications? The graduate is the face of a nation’s lost potential.

But wait, the best part of this story is when the lion, his course mate Mike, leaps onto him. “Help! Help!” the graduate screams. Well, folks, that is the cry of every Nigerian who has ever faced the horrors of unemployment. We are all screaming for help, but the real question is: who is listening? How many times have we seen graduates with impeccable qualifications and endless potential wandering the streets, unable to find a job, let alone a job with dignity?

And here is the kicker: let us not forget that “the crocodile in the water” is actually John from the graduate’s village, a riverine community. Another classic case of people having to rely on their backgrounds just to survive. John, the crocodile? He is now just another guy waiting for the next referral or “word of mouth” to land a gig. The system is rigged; an unholy mix of nepotism, lack of opportunities, and an education system that’s producing more graduates than the job market can swallow.

The Sad Truth: As much as we laugh at this ridiculous scenario, it is a painful reminder of just how desperate the situation is in Nigeria. With so many graduates wearing gorilla skins instead of working in their actual fields, it is clear: something has to change. We cannot just keep dressing up in animal costumes and hoping the lion would not notice. And it is time the Nigerian government and private sector take a long, hard look at the unemployment rate and find a way to break this cycle of absurdity.

After all, we cannot all be pretending to be animals. Some of us want to be the ones running the zoo.